To reuse water requires capital that they would rather not spend if it's cheaper for them just to dispose of it. I think that's why we don't reuse that much. It might be more cost effective to figure out a way to reuse it than it would be not to.

Mike Matichich and colleagues looked at five thirsty industrial sectors, including oil & gas, chemicals, and semiconductors, to understand how water and wastewater costs are affecting business decisions.

Before wastewater reaches recipient waters, nutrients must be removed in order to avoid eutrophication and large algal blooms, which may result in serious damage to animal and plant life. Robert Almstrand at the Depertment of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has shown in his thesis that better removal of nitrogen from wastewater can be achieved by providing the bacteria that purify the water with alternating high and low levels of nutrients.

As the world population grows, the struggle to provide enough resources to people becomes paramount. Whether it is having access to a resource or having enough of it, nations will fight to gain control of supply. Of those resources, one of the most vital is water.

With recent advances in technology and design, treating municipal wastewater and reusing it for drinking water, irrigation, industry and other applications could significantly increase the nation's total available water resources, particularly in coastal areas facing water shortages, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Despite having an eight-year head start on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction, Pennsylvania residents are just as uncertain about the effects of horizontal hydraulic drilling as New Yorkers, researchers at Cornell and Penn State have found.

A new study reveals that the release of treated municipal wastewater – even wastewater treated by the highest-quality treatment technology – can have a significant effect on the quantities of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often referred to as "superbacteria," in surface waters.

New research shows that wastewater recycling processes may generate more greenhouse gases than traditional water-treatment processes. Despite this finding, there are good reasons to continue keep wastewater recycling among the water-resource tools for urban areas

In building a fuel cell that uses bacteria to break down waste in water, Israel's water company Emefcy Ltd. has raised about $10 million from investors including GE, NRG Energy Inc. and ConocoPhillips.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that work has begun on removing 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from an area of the Passaic River near the Diamond Alkali Superfund site located at 80 Lister Avenue in Newark, N.J.